Unable to run IDLE Under Windows

[Peter Otten]

Jonathan Polley wrote:

> I have one account on a WindowsXP machine that refuses to run IDLE (or
> any other python script that uses Tk).  Other people can login to that
> PC and IDLE runs just fine, so it is not an installation issue.  When
> the person who has the problem logs into another PC the problem follows
> them.  Any ideas as to what might me wrong?

Perhaps your configuration files contain bad data:

"""
# IDLE reads several config files to determine user preferences.  This
# file is the default config file for general idle settings.
#
# When IDLE starts, it will look in
# the following two sets of files, in order:
#
#     default configuration
#     ---------------------
#     config-main.def         the default general config file
#     config-extensions.def   the default extension config file
#     config-highlight.def    the default highlighting config file
#     config-keys.def         the default keybinding config file
#
#     user configuration
#     -------------------
#     ~/.idlerc/config-main.cfg            the user general config file
#     ~/.idlerc/config-extensions.cfg      the user extension config file
#     ~/.idlerc/config-highlight.cfg       the user highlighting config file
#     ~/.idlerc/config-keys.cfg            the user keybinding config file
#
# On Windows2000 and Windows XP the .idlerc directory is at 
#       Documents and Settings\<username>\.idlerc       
#
# On Windows98 it is at c:\.idlerc
"""

This is from a newer version of python, but your configuration may have a
similar layout. The easiest way to test whether I guessed the cause of your
troubles correctly should be to rename the .idlerc directory so that idle
cannot find it anymore and then try to start it again.

Peter